A Bit of Rambling...

Almost two weeks have slipped by, and since June is the loveliest of all months, I don't want it to go so quickly! I keep thinking I'll come here and post but nothing of real consequence has happened.

Since June 1....

I had a birthday, #62, for which I will start getting a nice allowance check in a month or so. No tattoo or toe ring or shoes or hairstyle will made 62 young, so it's especially nice that, to make up for that not-so-youngness, you start getting paid for being a senior citizen.

The first 2/3 of my birthday was spent in pajamas, unbrushed teeth, talking to people who love me, having a visit from our sweet next door neighbor, after which I snuck away all by myself to Chipotle where I sat and read a book while I ate alone. Such a treat! (Said no extrovert ever, but I loved it.) Then we met our kids for an impromptu dinner, where they showed up with flowers and cupcakes and we ate onion blossoms and steak and sweet potatoes til we were stuffed.

The best birthday present was that I saw the cornea specialist who told me to come back IN A YEAR! So I went to the optometrist and spent another gazillion dollars and had an eye exam and ordered bi-focals. Has anyone ever been so excited to get new bi-focals? It's been three years since I lost mine and then injured my eye, so this has been my goal - to get prescription glasses where I can read the aisle markers at Walmart and Target, but also look down and read my list, or see the GPS and also the speedometer with a glance, rather than reaching across the seats to switch glasses all the time. Hoorah for me! I also didn't spend a fortune on designer frames, since I think the words 'bi-focal- and 'cool' cannot be used in the same sentence anyway. I wasn't willing to spend the extra $200 to not have a line in my glasses because #1 I like knowing where the line is in life, and #2 even without a line I'm pretty sure nobody is going to mistake me for a twenty or forty year old.

When the eyeglass fitting woman showed me frames with purple swirly temple pieces I stood there for just a minute and considered telling her if I'm wearing white underwear I have to also wear a white bra. That purple temple pieces would completely throw me when I choose to wear a red or pink or green top, so I went with boring tortoise shell. Which matches white underwear nicely. And I chose to not overshare.

We've started watching America's Got Talent, which maybe nobody watches but it's our favorite summer show, and we're loving it. When you're feeling down at all, watching Simon Cowell be nice to people is sure to lift spirits. I don't know why he's nice on this show but he is, and it somehow always slightly restores my faith in people to see it. And of course there are contestants that just blow you away, not with their talent, but with their fortitude in facing life. Always gives me an attitude adjustment, which I need on a regular basis. We've also just begun watching The Man in the High Castle, so we're a bit lost, but it's an interesting series.

Books have been grabbing me. I just finished Beartown by Fredrik Backman, which I absolutely did not love. The writing was good, the character development good, but I didn't love anyone, and the language and material was rough enough that I was disappointed. It's sure to be a bookclub hit, but I didn't love it.

I have come to realize we have our very own Man Called Ove here in our neighborhood, so that's fun to watch unfolding. If you don't know what I mean, read that book by Backman. It's wonderful!

I've started reading a new author, Sarah Addison Allen. Her first book, Garden Spells is interesting and a fun summer read. I've got the sequel sitting on my nightstand, which is always fun. I'm also reading a book called Citizen Christians (study of Christianity and Culture and Politics), and Loving Your Daughter-in-law, by Cheryl Oliver Pollock. I've been a mother-in-law for almost twenty years now, and have had a DIL for over 13 years, but the book would apply to son-in-laws too, and man alive, has this book shown me so many mistakes I've made! Some ignorance, some pride, some mother's fingers that don't want to let go, so it's been a really great read for me. Lots of things I need to do differently. Thank you to my sweet DIL who has loved me through this learning curve.

Summer always seems like the perfect time to curl up with a book, and I try to have a fiction and non-fiction going at the same time. Rest the brain - stretch the brain. Repeat.

We've got our first neighborhood get-together tomorrow night, with about 25 families now moved in. The pool is officially open, I'm using the treadmill, and enjoying living here so far. I'll be okay when the roads and sidewalks are all in, and Miss Lily's paws aren't orange from the clay all around us, but it's feeling more like home every day.

Except that we're already up into the mid-90's so it's just about time to head back north. We'll be leaving for Idaho the beginning of July, and staying there til after Halloween, when Texas should be back into the 70's. These are the times when I wish I could just 'beam me up Scotty' and go from one place to another within minutes. Wherever I am, I'm missing the ones we're not with, but this is when I remind myself women used to watch young daughters and sons pull away in wagon trains and head west, not to be seen for years or ever.

One of my grandsons has taken it upon himself to be my pen pal by email. So cute. It's very fun to see what interests a twelve year old, and have him describe his latest Lego creation or explain what a spinner is. Very sweet. ( and in spite of my advancing age, I did feel cool that I already knew what a spinner was!) I'm so thankful we live in a time where we can email, text, and best of all - Facetime. Our grandkids are growing up in an age where they don't think it's weird at all to talk to me through a computer screen, and I'm just happy to see their sweet faces.

So that's what we're up to - nothing riveting. Which may be the definition of a perfect start to summer.